Main Junction: [Sticky] ASK WHITECHAPEL -- the You Can Haz Help Now thread

I learned best by drawing from life and from references. I mostly used books to learn techniques for handling whatever medium I wanted to learn - pen and ink, oil paints, etc. Really, the best thing you can do is draw draw draw draw draw draw. Focus on one thing and draw it for an hour. Like for hands, draw them holding various items, taking only a minute or few to get the shape. Practice gestural drawings - rendering a figure in just a few lines. *COUGHgotoyourlocaldrsketchysCOUGH* or, y'know, alt life drawing sessions. If you want to draw an animal, google it and then draw it for however long it takes until you feel like you understand it and can draw it out of your head.

Quite honestly, if you're going to pick up a book, get an animator's book. The Animator's Survival Kit is the best one. Buy it used for cheap. It's also now on iPad if you prefer digital books. The Illusion of Life from Disney is the other staple of college classes. Animation books will be the most comprehensive because they give you ways of drawing things with life and movement in them, rather than just redrawing a photo, which can end up looking posed and lifeless (once you get an eye from it, you can basically see where people are nearly tracing googled images as opposed to pushing the figure/animal to what looks dynamic). Also, they have some of the best explanations for perspective when you're ready to move onto doing whole scenes - I never got it down in college until I pillaged my ex's handouts and books in his animation class.

Oooh, I'll definitely do Dr. Sketchy's again! I went once and had loads of fun. It's held literally blocks away from my place so i don't really have much of an excuse not to go. I suppose I can start trying my hand at the draw each other thread, to.

As far as getting better, does control over getting shapes coming out how you want them too just come with time? I feel like when I try to draw something, as hard as I try, I just can't get them to look how I want, and I'm wondering if that's just a lack of super-fine motor skills since I don't use my hands to draw. Like when a child is learning to write and their letters are just awful, shaky lines at first.

Yep. It's like... learning to throw a ball. At first it just goes all over the place until you start to get your muscle memory and better at dealing with aim and distance.

Except everything is a different kind of ball you need to learn to throw - from humans to animals to architecture. It sounds overwhelming at first, but that's why art school starts off with figure drawing and still lifes with fruits. Simplified down, the figures help you understand the weight and the movement of the body, the still lifes let you focus a lot on shapes and volumes and rendering things. Once you've got those, the rest starts to get easier since you're building on this foundation you already know. There are quick tricks to drawing one thing or another that you'll learn over time too (the same hand shape used over and over, or how to draw a quick facial profile with a few well placed V's) but a lot of those end up being more stylistic choices rather than structural so don't seek out too many short cuts too soon.

So just draw draw draw draw draw. You'll get better!

I always like looking at long-standing web comics folks because you can just SEE how many of them couldn't draw for shit at the start, but the regimented daily work improved the hell out of their comics over the years. This is also why I study (and lust after) animators more than anyone - as an illustrator, I just have pull off one awesome drawing. A comic artist has to do 9+ for just a single page comic. A traditional animator has to do tens to hundreds for a single "short" piece of art. That kind of practice pays off!

I would also recommend non-Sketchy's sessions. While Sketchy's is fun, the themed clothing (that is, granted, not a lot) they wear can be a bit of an impediment to learning anatomy. It's fun, but it also makes it an extra challenge. Fully nude figure sessions are highly recommended.

On the subject of nude figure sessions, I now have a question...how does one go about being a nude figure model? I've been contemplating posing several times but am not really sure how to go about making that happen and making sure I'm at a reputable place.

OCAD is reputable and often needs people. Lots of other art and animation schools need them regularly. I doubt they post on craigslist, but you can call their departments. I haven't done it but I know people who have.

Dork is right! Nude modeling simplifies things a ton where clothes will be a bit of a distraction.

Robin - Yea, call colleges with an art department. I know that in NYC, there are also tons of atelier's run by professional artists as well that you can pose for - I'd look into them first, obv. But if they seem like the sort that have repeat models, that's a good sign that they're fine to work with. I don't trust people who can't/won't have a model return to work with them again.If you're comfortable with a friend, see about practicing posing with them - holding still for 20-30 minutes at a time and having to meditate/clear your mind during all of it so you don't fidget is tough. Also, certain poses that seem like a good idea for the first few minutes can get agonizing later. Even holding standing poses for 5 minutes can get agonizing, though the fact that you're athletic and run/exercise will definitely help! OH! And lastly, don't let someone make you hold a pose for longer than 30 minutes (20 is best) - Molly had someone have her do that early in her modeling career and her wrist has been crunchy and weird ever since.

Yeah, the stuff about long poses is absolutely right. I'd add, though, you need to insist as a model that dynamic poses - stuff with a bit of a dramatic shape and some tension to bring up muscle definition - are for short durations only. You can seriously hurt yourself trying to hold dynamic poses for long sessions. Most classes, at least the ones I modelled for back in the 1990s, are pretty respectful about stuff like that and generally just appreciate the effort you are making to collaborate with them and throw the shapes they want to work with.

We adopted Asticou, a 2-year old declawed Deaf white cat (ya, Deaf guy, Deaf finacée, and Deaf cat too, although we have a skittish & clawy 13-yr old cat with regular hearing.)about 5 or 6 months ago, who absolutely REFUSES to shit inside the litterbox.

we got him from a Deaf friend whose hearing boyfriend couldn't sleep at night because Asticou would meow really loud all night, and he works as a truck driver during the day. not a good combination. both of us are Deaf, so...

at first, Asticou wouldn't piss or shit in the litterbox because he doesn't like the "Yesterday's News" litter, so, we switched it out with the cheap litter from the grocery store, which he likes to pee in. he still won't shit in the box. we've tried reprimanding, putting his shit in the litterbox, cleaning it daily (if it gets too dirty, he won't pee in it until it gets cleaned) placing a second litter box with the other litter, then both have the same litter (Charolette, the second cat, doesn't care what's in it). He still shits next to the box. both are open-top boxes so it's not a claustrophobia thing. the boxes were over time placed in several different places, and are now at he back wall of the studio. the locations didn't affect his shitting habits.

His former owner said that Asticou has always done that, it's not a new thing. one time Pamela walked on him just as he finished shitting on the floor, he freaked and bolted, which would mean he knows he's not suposed to do that, but does it anyway. thank god our floors are painted cement, which at least makes it easier to clean up.

I don't have any suggestion to help with the problem, but it probably started right after it was declawed. The damage declawing does to the paws make it really uncomfortable for cats to use the litter box so it could be because DeafCat One is afraid of it now. (Yes, your cat is now called "DeafCat One")

If, as the good Mr Savant suggests, his paws are being caused discomfort by the litter you're using, it might be worth switching to wood pellets, or the really fine crystal stuff. I know that both of those can be pretty pricey, though.

hm... the other litter we had, "yesterday's news" look similar to wood pellets, instead they're newspaper pellets. I never thought the issue might be his lack of claws (and subsequently changing the nature of his paws) since we have other friends with declawed cats who don't have any kitty abstract art appearing outside their boxes.

i'll check the local animaleries and see if they have any other litters for cats with sensitive paws.

Okay, so, for the last 10 - 12 years this scene from a movie pops into my head every couple of months, I can't figure out what movie it's from and I forget about it again. Today it popped up again, I mentioned it to my wife, she remembers it but can't remember the movie either. Google has been no help, it was asked on Yahoo Questions and the only answer was dirty, dirty lies.Please help.

It's from the 8-'s, there's a (bad?) guy trying to impress the girl. They're in a castle, it's nighttime, I'm pretty sure there's a lake out the window with mountains off in the distance. He reaches up and puts the moon between his thumb and pointer finger and then he's holding it in his hand and rolls it along his fingers like a coin.Here's a link to the Yahoo Answers with it's sticky, filthy lies. Any idea?And no, it's not Labyrinth. Bowie plays with balls, not a coin moon.

Okay, I'm finally getting on the horse named game development in Unity. I've basically been tinkering with the tutorial level stuff so far and I'm going to sink my teeth in the system's arse properly next week. Somewhere in the future there are point-and-clickish plans looming.

The question itself is pretty broad, but: are there some dos and don'ts with Unity that should be known right from the start? Ie. that stuff which makes you go "oh damn I wish I'd known X right in the beginning, it would've saved me so much trouble"?

Also, which 3D modeling software would you recommend to use with Unity? I'm eyeing at Blender, because my budget is 0€. :)